The Great Gap

I'm yet another of the returning players to the game. I won't go into my history, but have been back (on a new account) for months and have been working my characters along decently and enjoying the game. I like a lot of the new player "help" - like starting with a little cash, having NPC quests for cash, accelerated gain quests, etc. I have managed to GM some skills, but have encountered a gap in the equipment economy which has brought my progress almost to a halt. I can't seem to get what I would call "mid-grade" equipment. This would be something equivalent to GM crafted or slightly better than GM crafted equipment. Sure I can find an all 70 resist suit for 5 million but I can't afford that, and it's overkill for what I need right now. Likewise, there are nice weapons for similar costs, but it doesn't seem like anyone sells any equipment that's less than a million. I assume it's viewed as crap and tossed. What do others do at this point? (I'm not alone on this one am I?)

I mean, I created a crafter so I can make GM crafted stuff but that shouldn't be mandatory - this also only gets you through part of "the great gap". Store bought/begginer quest reward/loot equipment is good enough to get started and even to get to GM (for some skills), but this is where the gap in equipment seems to occur. You can't buy, there are no quests, and the loot on creatures you can fight is not good enough. Anyhow, any suggestions are appreciated.

Stratics Veteran

2. Scrape together just enough stuff to be able to survive moderate- to high-end content. Then either hook up with a guild or a spontaneous group to work that content. (Doom; Peerlesses; etc.) Or see if you can handle Swoop or Miasma. Work that content, get something worth selling/using. Buy what you don't find on your own.

(On most shards, there's just enough vendors that sell resist-heavy armor that you should be able to scrape together a high-resist suit in, say, anywhere from 1 week to 1 or 2 months. Unless you're really unlucky.)

3. Make a crafter, work the BOD system and/or the Crafting Quests. Use what you get to make your fighter better stuff.

4. Hang out in the New Haven bank and the Luna Bank. Pick up stuff people leave on the floor. Undignified, but sometimes effective.

5. Wait for the next equipment-heavy event (like Treasures of Tokuno). A Kasa of the Raj-In could have been enough to make up for a lot of gaps in your resists in your other pieces.

On most shards, the equipment gap can be overcome.

The path is something like this.

-Beginner (or in your case returner) spawns in New Haven.

-Beginner works New Haven quests, kills stuff, gets better.

-Beginner gets to resists in the 40s or 50s.

-Beginner finds something that's worth 100k or more.

-Beginner sells said item, buys slightly better equipment.

-Beginner is now suddenly able to do a Peerless run, gets something really good, like a Cincture, sells it, and doors open.

(At this point, the scales tip, and you quickly shoot past viable into "pretty damn good.")

-Beginner becomes Intermediate Player.

-Intermediate Player then hits another gap....the gap between Intermediate and "ownage" level. This gap persists for a long time and is sometimes never overcome.

The only way that going from Beginner to Intermediate is impossible for a semi-active player is if you are spectacularly unlucky or are on a shard where everything is SOOO high-end that middle-end equipment is literally not sold at all. ON most populated shards there's someone who sells it, though sometimes it's hard to find.

Thanks for the feedback. I will keep trying using your suggestions. Just as a note, I play on Atlantic and trying to find anything inexpensive in Luna is a joke. There are vendors that advertise "cheap items" but their idea of cheap is a little different from mine, not too mention many having almost nothing in stock (I love opening empty backpack after empty backpack, after empty backpack......). I've at least had a little luck looking at vendors around cities like Britain (found a decent weapon that way, but have had no luck w/armor). Anyhow, thanks for the feedback.

Stratics Veteran

Thanks for the feedback. I will keep trying using your suggestions. Just as a note, I play on Atlantic and trying to find anything inexpensive in Luna is a joke. There are vendors that advertise "cheap items" but their idea of cheap is a little different from mine, not too mention many having almost nothing in stock (I love opening empty backpack after empty backpack, after empty backpack......). I've at least had a little luck looking at vendors around cities like Britain (found a decent weapon that way, but have had no luck w/armor). Anyhow, thanks for the feedback.

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You can PM me and I can meet you in game. I helped another returning player not too long ago. He needed a 100% LRC suit. While it was not spectacular perhaps, it was 70s across the board, 100% LRC, and had a little FC coupled with some DCI. Not too bad for free if you ask me.

u cold try the painted caves kill troglodyte they drop 400 gp easy to kill. u could make a million dollars a day on them. all u need is aroung 50 physical resist and a repond slayer . get ur skills to around 80% and ull do fine and if ur a warrior and u use healing they drop bandies as well. side note stay at the bottom of the caves up top is a lurg he hits hard.

Stratics Veteran

I'm yet another of the returning players to the game. I won't go into my history, but have been back (on a new account) for months and have been working my characters along decently and enjoying the game. I like a lot of the new player "help" - like starting with a little cash, having NPC quests for cash, accelerated gain quests, etc. I have managed to GM some skills, but have encountered a gap in the equipment economy which has brought my progress almost to a halt. I can't seem to get what I would call "mid-grade" equipment. This would be something equivalent to GM crafted or slightly better than GM crafted equipment. Sure I can find an all 70 resist suit for 5 million but I can't afford that, and it's overkill for what I need right now. Likewise, there are nice weapons for similar costs, but it doesn't seem like anyone sells any equipment that's less than a million. I assume it's viewed as crap and tossed. What do others do at this point? (I'm not alone on this one am I?)

I mean, I created a crafter so I can make GM crafted stuff but that shouldn't be mandatory - this also only gets you through part of "the great gap". Store bought/begginer quest reward/loot equipment is good enough to get started and even to get to GM (for some skills), but this is where the gap in equipment seems to occur. You can't buy, there are no quests, and the loot on creatures you can fight is not good enough. Anyhow, any suggestions are appreciated.

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So with going what I put in bold:

As a few more side notes, you have to be very, very careful on Atlantic with what you are looking at in terms of weapons and armor. And...jewelry for that matter.

Most of the stuff is garbage like you thought. There is a reason the item is being sold. Especially for the outrageous prices. Usually because someone doesn't know any better and will buy the item anyways. Do not bother with Luna. There are enough people who will make you an item for free or a nominal fee (usually getting the hammer or ore).

As a quest note, you can do the strong box quest. You start it in Heartwood or the Sanctuary (your choice which and where to start). The items are random that you may receive, but they are usually of good value. Something you can enhance, barter, or sell.

Stratics Veteran

Beware of Luna Vendors. Beware more of Luna vendors titled "Cheap." Those are inevitably the most expensive of Luna vendors.

Atlantic has the most rediculous priced goods in Luna, but also has the cheapest priced goods. It will take a lot of shopping around to find what you need.

Very cheap artifacts that will get you toward where you want to go are:
Aegis of Grace - It has low resists, but very high defense chance increase. Not getting hit is more important than resisting the damage. You can usually find this one for under 50k gold.
Heart of the Lion - This one will stay with you for a very long time in your UO life. With DCI and decent resists, it's probably the most solid investment you could make for a warrior's chest piece early on. When you can afford it, also invest in a rune beetle carapace, but they're a lot more expensive.

If you're an elf, then fey leggings (elf version) are very cheap as well.

If you combine those two or three items with ordinary (non runic) dull copper armor or spined leather, you get 70 physical resist and halfway decent defense chance increase.

At that point, you should be looking for a good repond slayer weapon (night's kiss for fencers, soul seeker for swordsman) and you could literally stand all day in the Troglodyte spawn to train up your skills and make enough gold to upgrade your armor pieces one at a time. When you get your fire and energy resist up a bit higher, you can move on to the titan spawn in Ilshenar and have a bit more fun and challenge killing paragon titans for minor artifacts and about the same amount of gold you'll get from killing the Trogs.

After your armor is halfway decent (not super), start focussing all of your energy on upgrading your weaponry. A good weapon will help you a lot more than the high end armor will.

Whatever you do, don't rush the process the first time through. While we'll tell you that it's possible to get the high end gear in a couple of weeks from nothing, it's a lot more rewarding to learn the ins and outs of the game while you're training your character up. That means that a process of a few months to get to the mid-level gear shouldn't be too bad for you.

The absolute best thing you can do for narrowing the gap is to join up with a group of people. Two people with low end gear can do things together that the same two people can't do at all if they work alone, even in mid to high range gear.

The short version:
Kill things in Despise until you can afford DCI artifacts
Kill Troglodytes to gain gold and train up your skills
Upgrade your gear then go after magic casting enemies
Shop around.
Avoid Luna if you can, but remember that you can find deals there too
Join a group of like minded adventurers for a leg-up

Once again, thanks for all the excellent replies. I had no idea about the strongbox quest. Also, I had much better luck looking at vendors around towns. I've started "progressing" again and that always feels good. Soon I'll be off to painted caves, thx all.

Stratics VeteranStratics Legend

I've been a "kinda" player for a long time...haven't played more than a few weeks at a go. Therefore, I never have built up anything impressive.

Last time I played for any length, I tried an experiment. I started a new character, and didn't allow it any contact with my other characters/house/etc. I asked for advice on how to continue to grow in the game, and hit about the same blocks that you did. I ended up giving up, to be honest--I could never really reach the point to go after what everyone kept suggesting. I'm interested to hear if you can work these suggestions--might make me dust off my old guy and drag him out of the inn again.

Stratics Veteran

Once again, thanks for all the excellent replies. I had no idea about the strongbox quest. Also, I had much better luck looking at vendors around towns. I've started "progressing" again and that always feels good. Soon I'll be off to painted caves, thx all.

Stratics Veteran

There's a few. A "strongbox quest" is any quest for which the reward is "a strongbox." Strongboxes on rare occasions have loot to die for.

Most of the one-time only Peerless kill quests are Strongbox quests. I think some of the Travesty scroll quests (the ones where you find a scroll after killing Travesty that starts a quest) are strongbox quests. (Aren't they?)

There's also one from Dallid the Cook in Sanctuary that involves killing 3 boss monsters.

Stratics Veteran

There's a few. A "strongbox quest" is any quest for which the reward is "a strongbox." Strongboxes on rare occasions have loot to die for.

Most of the one-time only Peerless kill quests are Strongbox quests. I think some of the Travesty scroll quests (the ones where you find a scroll after killing Travesty that starts a quest) are strongbox quests. (Aren't they?)

There's also one from Dallid the Cook in Sanctuary that involves killing 3 boss monsters.

-Galen's player

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The assassination contracts you'll find from the denizens of the Citadel are only bag-quests and not typically worth doing. The Citadel strongbox quests are "Evidence" from Sarakki the Notary (can only do once) and "New Leadership" from Acob the Wise in Heartwood, where you need to kill all of the Citadel mini-bosses. It's wise to do that one every time you key Travesty, as you'll need to kill them anyway, you may as well get the extra loot.

Just thought I'd post an update. I was able to shop around and get a soulseeker, heart of the lion, and fey leggings. These combined with my "normal" (no magic properties) GM crafted armor made a HUGE difference. Prior to these acquisitions, I was just fighting earth ele's because that was really the best thing I could kill with my equipment (I did manage to get an earth ele slayer katana). With these three upgrades that cost me almost all my cash (over 200k) I was able to go to painted caves and make double (almost triple) the cash I was making fighting ee's. Just as a test I tried switching back to my "old" equipment and see what I could do against the trogs. Sadly it was like night and day. I thought I'd kill about half as fast but it was more like 1/3 maybe even 1/4 as fast. The DCI, leeching, and damage boost with the minor arties is huge. Anyhow, I never got a chance this weekend to try the strongbox quests, was having too much fun in the painted caves.

this post wont help you much but on atl if you shop carfully you can buy a all 70s suit for around 300k. Yes you can just go buy one thats put together of a vendor but your paying more than 10X per piece becouse they went through the trouble of adding the resists up. Shop each vendor and by the high resist not so good other things armor they have on there. By the time youve done this a few times 70s suit ez for WAY WAY less than 5mil

Stratics Veteran

Just thought I'd post an update. I was able to shop around and get a soulseeker, heart of the lion, and fey leggings. These combined with my "normal" (no magic properties) GM crafted armor made a HUGE difference. Prior to these acquisitions, I was just fighting earth ele's because that was really the best thing I could kill with my equipment (I did manage to get an earth ele slayer katana). With these three upgrades that cost me almost all my cash (over 200k) I was able to go to painted caves and make double (almost triple) the cash I was making fighting ee's. Just as a test I tried switching back to my "old" equipment and see what I could do against the trogs. Sadly it was like night and day. I thought I'd kill about half as fast but it was more like 1/3 maybe even 1/4 as fast. The DCI, leeching, and damage boost with the minor arties is huge. Anyhow, I never got a chance this weekend to try the strongbox quests, was having too much fun in the painted caves.

Stratics Veteran

The assassination contracts you'll find from the denizens of the Citadel are only bag-quests and not typically worth doing. The Citadel strongbox quests are "Evidence" from Sarakki the Notary (can only do once) and "New Leadership" from Acob the Wise in Heartwood, where you need to kill all of the Citadel mini-bosses. It's wise to do that one every time you key Travesty, as you'll need to kill them anyway, you may as well get the extra loot.

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Oooh, thanks, I wasn't aware of the mini-boss quests.

I didn't mean the assassination contract quests, or even the stolen goods quests, I meant the one where Orders from Minax or Correspondence from Minax spawn on the ground during or immediately following the Travesty fight.

You bring them to the Notary. I forget if those are Strongbox quests or not.

I like those for fictional reasons....I like the reminder that Minax is still at large, and has not forgotten us.

Stratics Veteran

There's more than one from Heartwood, but the only one I can think of off-hand is the Dread Horn quest, which can only be done once, from Lorekeepr Calendor.

-Galen's player

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The NPC for the main quest in heartwood is to the right of the NPC you name, and below the NPC for the spellweaving quest. There is another NPC to the left of the fletcher/bowyer area that you also deal with for the Heartwood strongbox quest (e.g. the one that you can repeat THAT is worth doing).

Other than that, to the OP...that is a common route to go to start with. Just be careful with your funds and you can acquire some descent pieces like the poster above me discussed.

The leadership quest (I think it comes from Callendor in Heartwood?) is a good one. You have to kill the three Citadel mini-bosses (i.e., high executioner, grand master mage, and....the thief guy). Easily done and good loot.

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